


It's not over

by lee_andrews



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Flashbacks, ichigo and rukia saying farewell, takes place during timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24960964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lee_andrews/pseuds/lee_andrews
Summary: One bunny is all it takes for Ichigo to realise that he cannot live like an ordinary human after all.________________________Takes place during the timeskip, a couple of months after Aizen's defeat.Inspired by the song "My Heroine (It's not over)" by Angels & Airwaves.
Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia/Kurosaki Ichigo
Kudos: 15





	It's not over

_Even if you can no longer see me, I will still be able to see you._

_Bye, Rukia._

_…Thank you._

Ichigo’s eyes snapped open and he jumped out of his bed. Holding on to the back of his chair, he was trying to steady his breathing, to calm down his racing heart. Did he have a bad dream? He really couldn’t remember and, maybe, it was for the best. It was still dark outside and the only sound in the room was Kon’s quiet snoring that Ichigo had long since learned to ignore. It was unusual to suddenly wake up in the middle of the night like that now. Before, of course, the Hollows wouldn’t let him sleep peacefully: first, it had been Rukia with her annoying peeping phone, but later, Ichigo himself had learned to feel the dangerous reiatsu through his sleep and wake himself up. Now, however, he was an ordinary human and Rukia…

Ichigo moved to open the window, hoping that the feeling of the cool night air on his skin would relieve this pain in his chest he got when he thought of Rukia. The outside seemed empty and quiet: no cars, no pedestrians, but Ichigo knew that this calm might just be an illusion. However, even if some Shinigami was battling a Hollow on the street right now, invisible to Ichigo’s eyes, it would just be their regular job. No one had to worry anymore: neither about a Garganta opening in the middle of the sky and letting the Arrancar loose onto an unsuspecting town, nor about Hollows getting yet another batch of new abilities from Aizen and his Hōgyoku, nor about everything Shinigami were supposed to protect with their life crumbling to dust at any moment. It was him – Ichigo – who had helped the world get back to normal, restore the balance, and the thought made him smile. Everything he had done was worth it. He didn’t have any regrets. And yet…

She hadn’t disappeared immediately. Instead, her features had gradually faded from Ichigo’s view, as though she had been turning to dust immediately carried away by the cold winter wind. Ichigo had known that she would hear his “Thank you”, but it had been so hard for him to convince himself that she hadn’t actually turned to dust, that she had still existed here, right beside him, and that everyone present could still see her. Of course, it hadn’t been a goodbye forever. When he died, he would be able to see her again. While he was still alive, she could visit him in a gigai, though it seemed like cheating and Ichigo was sure that neither of them would agree to that. Rukia had changed his life, she had given him the power to protect everyone. She had made her way into his heart and stayed there. But now Ichigo was an ordinary human. Ordinary humans don’t go around being friends with Shinigami or saving other people’s souls, they just live their lives, oblivious to the invisible forces protecting them from harm. And so Ichigo had to step back and let himself be protected. And yet…

A couple of days ago Ichigo had been going through the stack of papers on his table: notes on homework, documents from the clinic he helped his dad with, shouldn’t have been anything special. Except one piece of paper had harboured a drawing of a very familiar looking bunny with incredibly spiky orange hair and “Ichigo” scribbled underneath. Ichigo had felt as though he’d been struck by lightning, almost falling from his chair. He had spent an eternity looking at the drawing, trying to frantically understand where it had come from. Was it an old sketch he’d just forgotten about? Or was it new? _Had Rukia been in his room?_ The drawing couldn’t give him any answers, however, so Ichigo had just carefully folded the paper and locked it away in the top drawer of his desk. Since then, his calm acceptance and resolve to be an ordinary human had trembled, his mind in turmoil and the images of his time with Rukia coming back to him more and more in waves of heartache.

“Where are you, Rukia? Are you thinking about me? Are you coming here to watch me once in a while or is it just wishful thinking on my part?”

Ichigo remembered. Her sad eyes had been the last to dissolve in the air when they had said their farewells. How he had desperately wanted to hug her there and then, to hold on to her and to make her stay in his world a little bit longer. Instead, he had just been looking into her eyes, mesmerised, until the last dash of the familiar purple had disappeared.

Rukia was too important for him to just give up on, he realised.

He didn’t want to wait until he was dead, he realised.

He had to find a way to see her again, properly, to sense that reiatsu he would know anywhere, he realised.

Otherwise, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Ichigo clenched his fists – it wasn’t the first time he would swear an oath to himself – and whispered, “It’s not over. I promise, Rukia.”


End file.
